Local clergy to be honored

STAFF REPORT

Published: Saturday, February 2, 2013 at 5:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, January 31, 2013 at 7:59 p.m.

Father Al Esposito, pastor of Saint Maria del Mar Roman Catholic Church in Flagler Beach, will be honored by the Chapel of Four Chaplains with the Bronze Medallion of the Legion of Honor of the Four Chaplains.

Joining Esposito in receiving the honor will be the Rev. Steve Heath, Union Congregational Church in Holly Hill and retired Army Chaplain Maj. Rabbi S. Howard Schwartz from Haven Hospice in DeLand.

The ceremony takes place Feb. 10 at the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 84. The event begins at 2:30 p.m. at the DAV home, 601 Eighth Street, Holly Hill. The public is invited to attend.

Others presented with the award include Presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush. In addition, King Juan Carlos I of Spain and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher have received the award.

"This unique award is presented only after deliberate consideration of the nominee's lifetime record of selfless service to their community, their state or their nation as exemplified by the action of four World War II U.S. Army chaplains," said Chapel Director Larry Babbits, in a news release. "These four brave, young soldiers were sailing aboard on old coastal steamer, pressed into service as a troop-ship when it was torpedoed off the coast of Greenland by a Nazi submarine in 1943. These four chaplains gave away their own life vests to soldiers who had none, thus giving away their only chance of survival. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this extraordinary story is that the four chaplains each represented different religious faiths: one was a Roman Catholic priest, another a Jewish rabbi, as well as a Dutch Reformed Church pastor and a Methodist minister."

In 1951 the Chapel of Four Chaplains was created in their memory at Temple Universty in Phildelphia and took as part of their charitable mission the recognition of those who exemplified a lifetime history of selfless service, according to the release.

<p>Father Al Esposito, pastor of Saint Maria del Mar Roman Catholic Church in Flagler Beach, will be honored by the Chapel of Four Chaplains with the Bronze Medallion of the Legion of Honor of the Four Chaplains. </p><p>Joining Esposito in receiving the honor will be the Rev. Steve Heath, Union Congregational Church in Holly Hill and retired Army Chaplain Maj. Rabbi S. Howard Schwartz from Haven Hospice in DeLand. </p><p>The ceremony takes place Feb. 10 at the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 84. The event begins at 2:30 p.m. at the DAV home, 601 Eighth Street, Holly Hill. The public is invited to attend. </p><p>Others presented with the award include Presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush. In addition, King Juan Carlos I of Spain and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher have received the award. </p><p> </p><p>"This unique award is presented only after deliberate consideration of the nominee's lifetime record of selfless service to their community, their state or their nation as exemplified by the action of four World War II U.S. Army chaplains," said Chapel Director Larry Babbits, in a news release. "These four brave, young soldiers were sailing aboard on old coastal steamer, pressed into service as a troop-ship when it was torpedoed off the coast of Greenland by a Nazi submarine in 1943. These four chaplains gave away their own life vests to soldiers who had none, thus giving away their only chance of survival. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this extraordinary story is that the four chaplains each represented different religious faiths: one was a Roman Catholic priest, another a Jewish rabbi, as well as a Dutch Reformed Church pastor and a Methodist minister." </p><p>In 1951 the Chapel of Four Chaplains was created in their memory at Temple Universty in Phildelphia and took as part of their charitable mission the recognition of those who exemplified a lifetime history of selfless service, according to the release.</p>